June 21, 2026 "More than Many Sparrows"

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Jeremiah 20:7-13

Psalm 69:7-10, 16-18

Romans 6:1b-11

Matthew 10:24-39

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

grace and peace to you

 from the one who values us more than many sparrows. Amen

The other morning

when I asked my husband how he’d slept the night before

he said he’d had some trouble falling asleep

 but on the plus side he used that time to do some reading

and then proceeded to excitedly tell me

that he had learned that the armor for a cavalry man in 1300s Germany

 cost roughly 4 cows,

while a little over two hundred years later in 1515

 the price of armor had jumped to 20 cows.

 So maybe he didn’t get as much sleep

but he did learn about the cow to armor conversion rate in the late middle ages.

All of which is to say

 that it is not unusual for things or even humans

to be assigned value relative to animals,

livestock or even sparrows,

which as Jesus remarks

 in his time are sold two for a penny.

 Sparrows had a price attached to them

because they were the temple sacrifices of the poor

 who couldn’t afford the more expensive goats or cows,

 in comparison sparrows were worth almost nothing

 but Jesus reminds his disciples

 “Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father…so do not be afraid you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Think about how amazing it is

 that God cares for the smallest of birds,

 so small as to be valued as almost worthless by humans

 and that same God,

 creator of the universe,

 knows us intimately,

 down to the number of hairs on our heads.

 And not only that

 we are so valued by God

that the one who has power over body and soul

joined the life of Jesus the beloved son,

who is one with the Father,

to our own lives.

This is the one who the death he died, he died to sin once for all

and the life he lives he lives to God

this is great cosmic changing stuff

and God did it for us,

for you

with your approximately 100,000 hairs on your head

(at least that the average google gave me)

do you know how many hairs you have?

 I don’t

but God does.

And if you’re bald don’t worry God knows all the other little details about you too. 

God has done all this for us!

It’s amazing life altering grace.

But don’t let it go to your heads

Jesus, speaking to his disciples today

 warns them not to get too big for their britches.

 Jesus has just given the twelve

authority over unclean spirits, the power to heal

 and is sending them out to proclaim the good news

 that the kingdom of heaven has come near,

this is the kind of power that could quickly go to a person’s head

so he tells them to rely only on the hospitality offered them

they are not to charge for their services

they are not even allowed to move host houses

 if a better offer comes along,

 this power is to be used for the kingdom

not for personal gain,

 and he goes on to warn them

not to be surprised when the world reacts negatively to this good news.

The good news is good

because it is transformative,

 in other words it brings change,

and we know how the world,

we as people

respond to change.

We fight tooth and nail to avoid it,

even though we are often holding on to our own destruction.

The good news of the kingdom of heaven

is that God is turning the world upside down,

which means life and healing for those dying and sick,

it means a reordering of relationships

that will disrupt family systems,

it means uncovering and bringing into the light

all the things that have been hidden

 the power imbalances that result in profit for some and death for others.

‘The mighty will be cast down from their thrones’

 Mary sings in the Magnificat,

 but Jesus knows the mighty aren’t going down without a fight

 and the ones proclaiming this news will bear the brunt of it.

Jesus knows what is ahead for him,

arrest, trial, crucifixion,

 and he’s warning the disciples to not expect to be treated differently,

 “a disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master.”

In other words don’t expect to be treated better than Jesus,

 in fact if we are following in his footsteps

and proclaiming and enacting the kingdom of heaven

a way of life that values sparrows as much as cows

 (and thus disrupting the earthly economy and value system)

we should expect to encounter similar pushback

because those benefitting from the price imbalance

between cows and sparrows

 will fight to keep things from changing.

Which Jesus realizes

will be extremely disheartening

to his newly called disciples,

so at the same time he’s warning them not to think too highly of themselves

 he’s also giving them something to hang onto

when the way gets tough,

the reminder that even sparrows are valuable to God,

 even the tiniest of details is important to God

 and they are much bigger, more complex,

more valuable than many sparrows.

We are more valuable to God than many sparrows. 

It’s almost too fantastical to think about,

 to comprehend,

 especially for those of us living post ascension

which is why God gave us the gift of baptism

a precise moment in time

with real water splashing over our heads,

 the light of Christ shining,

 the words of God spoken

claiming us for God,

 so that forever after we can point to that moment and say

‘there can be no doubt, I am God’s, I am a child of God, I am baptized.”

As Paul tells us today in our passage from Romans

 “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. “

Because of the gift of God,

we walk in newness of life!

Sins washed away,

we are alive to God.

 ‘but don’t let it go to your heads’

Paul says echoing Jesus

‘Don’t keep sinning and testing the grace of God.’

Part of the gift of baptism

 is newness of life right now

rather than some day in heaven,

we get to join Jesus in living for God right now!

Which means we should not resign ourselves to sin,

in the words of our baptismal liturgy

we are to “proclaim the good news of God in word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth” (ELW, 236).

 And like the disciples,

if we do this,

if we walk in the newness of life of Jesus Christ

we will get pushback from the old life,

 including death.

Which is why Paul includes the reassurance

 which we use as part of our funeral liturgy

 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

God values us so much

that God joined us to the death and resurrection of Christ

 and this will never change,

even, especially

 on the days when we feel like we’re only worth two for a penny,

on those days God points us to the sparrows,

“…not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father…so do not be afraid you are of more value than many sparrows.” Amen